Florence & Venice Hotels

MetHerInSolas

Looking for hotels recommendation for Florence and Venice?

Left Back on the Bench

We stayed in hotel delfino in mestre. About 10 minute bus drive to Venice. Basic enough, cheap though n breakfast included. We thought it wap ideal for the few days we were there

tobdom

We stayed here in Florence, a really cool place in a very good location:

https://www.booking.com/hotel/it/corte-dei-neri.html

deisemum

We stayed at Hotel Arlecchino in Venice, it's near the bus station so saves dragging luggage over a lot of bridges and cobbled streets. Our room was lovely, a corner room with views of the canals from 2 different windows. Breakfast was lovely too and there's a lovely restaurant/cafe behind it.

http://www.hotelarlecchino.com/

Boca

Stayed here in Venice recently
http://www.eurostarshotels.co.uk/eurostars-residenza-cannaregio.html
15 mins walk from the train, very modern, clean, rooms are more spacious then most Venice hotels

SeamusG97

In Venice if you move out of centre you can avoid a lot of cost. We stayed in this place in the Piazzale Santa Maria Elisabetta a while back - http://www.giardinettovenice.com/it. It's been a few years but I remember it was reasonably priced and in a pleasant but not over touristy area. There's a vaporetto directly outside and part of the fun was the trip into the city centre each day. In fact we got three day tickets and used it to visit all over Venice. Pleasant area with a beach nearby. Rooms are smallish as with most Venice hotels. Everything is about 30% cheaper than the extortionate prices they charge in Piazza San Marco.

Last time there (with teenage kids in 2015) we rented an apartment - a stunning historic building in San Stae with a boathouse opening directly onto the canal - for three nights. It worked out cheaper than a hotel. I think around €600 for three days for four people.

Florence - anywhere within a short walk of the Piazza della Signoria and the Ponte Vecchio is a good idea. Avoid anywhere near the railway station - I remember it is a bit of a kip even though it is only a few hundred metres from the centre.

Spanish Eyes

Sorry and not being a spoilsport, but I have never stayed in an hotel in either Venice or Florence. Both those places are magnificent to see FOR A DAY. Then IMO get out and see the other sides.

So I stayed in Lucca and got a train to Florence. Lucca is magical. Far nicer than Florence!

Stayed in Padua and got a train to Venice (twenty minutes). Same thing. Lovely place.

Both places are fab.

Anyway, that is just my view.

SeamusG97

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Sorry and not being a spoilsport, but I have never stayed in an hotel in either Venice or Florence. Both those places are magnificent to see FOR A DAY. Then IMO get out and see the other sides.

So I stayed in Lucca and got a train to Florence. Lucca is magical. Far nicer than Florence!

Stayed in Padua and got a train to Venice (twenty minutes). Same thing. Lovely place.

Both places are fab.

Anyway, that is just my view.

Did Florence for the Honeymoon many years ago so maybe looking through rose tinted glasses but there is a vibrant street/café thing in the two central Piazzas that goes on until the small hours and which can be very pleasant.

It's a good base to see places like Sienna, Viareggio, Fiesole, and a ton of other beautiful places in Tuscany. There are lots of interesting museums and things to see (Uffizi Gallery, Santo Croce where Michaelangelo, Machiavelli, Gallileo are buried, Boboli Gardens, Ponte Veccio) Largest Unsupported dome of its time was Brunelleschi's dome at the cathederal. It's possible to climb up inside its structure and it's a marvel of medieval engineering. I'd give it three or four days.

Venice - three days would be plenty - everything is cynically overpriced. They even charge extra for the band that plays outside the café you are sitting at in the Piazza San Marco. Gondola - €80 for twenty minutes - but it's one of these things that you can't pass on.
A multi-day vaporetto ticket is good value though - can be used for a self-directed tour including the islands of Murano and Burano. ( Artisan Lace and Glass to separate you from your money. We have a gold flecked glass sculpture of a couple embracing on the mantelpiece since our 2005 visit! )

Conall Cernach

I stayed in the Hotel Al Sole in Venice for 4 nights about 10 years ago. It's a nice little place in the Santa Croce area not too far from the rail and bus stations. It was bed and continental breakfast only but was very reasonable, I thought. Venice by night is brilliant. It is very atmospheric walking around deserted streets at night or sitting in a little bar on some square off the beaten track. I was reading Brideshead Revisited at the time and so I was wandering round with Jeremy Irons doing a Charles Ryder monologue in my head all the time.

losthorizon

I've stayed in Venice twice. By moving out of Venice you can get cheaper hotels and still keep the same quality. http://www.lagarehotelvenezia.com/en/ You get there by boat which run 24/7

Another idea would be to tru looking at B&Bs or Apartment lets. Some of these in Italy are fantastic and great value. Tourists tend to forget about them.